8 



re jjre seated in the sa-iie country by Oastilla p a naaensi s Cook. 

 In Gosta Hica Gastilla I'allax is icuov;u as hale ma oho » hule 

 or ule being the Cieutral Aaierioan name, derived ±"rc.;i the 

 nahuatl, ulli , £u.:n, for rubber or rubber tree. In Panama 

 the native narae is caucho macho , or sometimes cauchillc . 



The bark of this tree yields a soft vegetable cloth, 

 which the Cuna-Guna and Ghoco Indians make intc clouts, 

 skirts or sleeping mats. The wood is used very seldom on 

 account of the abundant flo'.v of cortical latex, which makes 

 it difficult to handle. 



The iTua t ic-Jree 

 Ghlorophora tinctoria (L) Graudich. in i'reye Vog. 3ot. 50B 



(note) 1626. 



Description of the tree 



A dioecious tree, armed or unarmed, laticif erous , up to 

 20 meters high and 75 cm. in diameter, the bark brov/nish gray, 

 the young branchlets more or less covered with rounded lenti- 

 cels. Leaves alternate, membranous, glabrous, the petioles 

 slender, 0.7 to 1 cm. long, the blades oblong, rounded at 

 the base, acuminate, 4 to 13 cm. long, 1.5 tc 4,5 cm. long, 

 entire or more or less serrate. Inflorescences single in the 

 axils of the leaves, the male flowers in hanging, pedunculate 

 catkins, the female flowers in globose, sessile heads; male 

 flowers; perianth 4-partite, stamens 4, exserted; female 

 flowers: perianth broadly tubular, 4- toothed; ovary free, 

 1-ovulate; style long and filiform. Achenia numerous, sur- 

 rounded by the floral perianth and covering the globose, 

 fleshy receptacle. 



The Fustic- tree is very variable in form and shape; some- 

 times it is armed with sharp axillary spines, other times 

 without them; the leaves are either entire or serrate, both 

 forms ocGuring side by side on the same branchlets. The Pana- 

 manian specimens, however, are found mostly with serrate 

 leaves and belong to the variety designated as Chlorophora 

 tinctoria xanthoxylon. 



